THE HELP

The Help (2011)
Grade: A
Starring: Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Bryce Dallas Howard, Octavia Spencer, Allison Janney, Jessica Chastain, Ahna O'Reilly and Sissy Spacek
PREMISE: A free-thinking young white woman in the Deep South decides to learn more about her black maids and neighbors in order to write a book that will impress a big city editor.

RATED PG-13 for intense emotional content related to segregation

--Beautiful and full. If I had to pick two words to describe The Help, Tate Taylor's popular adaptation of Kathryn Stockett's bestseller about a young white woman's attempt to get her ignorant, racist peers to see their black maids, nannies, and neighbors for who they really are, it would be those two--beautiful and full. This movie has generated strong word of mouth and impressive box-office clout for a straight drama full of women, and I can see why. Between its sprawling, exceptional cast, and moments both light, funny, and emotional that keep you rooted in your seat, this movie is a treasure.

--That young white woman is Eugenia "Skeeter" Phelan (a radiant Emma Stone), who hails from snooty, segregated Jackson, Mississippi, but has a head full of new ideas and perspectives after four years at Ole Miss. She sets herself apart from her peers-most of them uptight, boy-crazy, responsibility-shunning princesses like Elizabeth Leefolt (Anna O'Reilly), by daring to think for herself, to apply for a job, to pursue a career (as a writer), and to understand that she was, in fact, raised-and loved-by a black woman, her nanny Constantine (Cicely Tyson, seen only in flashbacks). Seeking her big break, Skeeter manages to win the attention of a big-time New York editor (Mary Steenburgen) by promising to write a book about Southern culture-particularly the edgy, tension-fraught interaction between whites and blacks-from the blacks' point of view. Having nothing but fond memories of her own nanny, Skeeter decides to target nannies and housekeepers, considering their frequent, intimate interaction with whites.

--In the meantime able to get a job writing a housekeeping column for the Jackson Journal, Skeeter asks for assistance from Aibileen Clark (Viola Davis, finally getting the leading role she's deserved), who has spent her entire life as a nanny and now almost single-handedly raises Elizabeth Leefolt's toddler and first child. At first scared and reluctant to participate, lest it bring trouble down on herself (the mildest of which trouble would be vandalism), Aibileen begins to assist Skeeter with not just the column, but a book of blacks' stories about whites, from the blacks' point of view, after she sees-again and again-the degradation and humiliation of her peers in the black community. Soon, getting stories isn't the problem for Skeeter--keeping the project hidden, especially from her critical, proper mother (Allison Janney) and her childhood friend and local Queen Bee diva Hilly (a terrific Bryce Dallas Howard), is the real issue, one that could endanger lives if it's found out.

--Honestly, I've barely shared half the movie's subplots, but they are well-tended to (very well-tended to; almost no single moment in this movie is wasted) by Taylor, who should be applauded for giving today's attention-deficit audiences a full (there's that word, again) movie, even at two and a quarter hours. The movie drags just a little bit at the end, but nearly all that time is necessary to put flesh and bone on each of its many characters.

--And what characters they are. Indeed, the characters are all so well-developed and well-played that I don't know how the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences chose just three for its acting categories when it announced the Oscar nominees this morning.

--Nomination one was Viola Davis for Best Actress, who was previously nominated for a small role in the tense drama Doubt, but, here, gets much more screen time and uses it to her, and our, benefit. Playing an older, wiser woman who "knows her place", Davis doesn't quite get the lively crackling role some of her co-stars do, but she holds the screen with dignity, honesty, and, when necessary, heartbreaking emotion.

--Having now seen the movie, I don't know that I'd even call Aibileen the film's "main character", as I'm quite certain Emma Stone and Bryce Dallas Howard get at least as much, if not more, screen time. Both are excellent. Stone is the audience's anchor, someone to hold onto and sympathize with after a few, very frank, early moments of whites disregarding and even openly insulting blacks. Blunt, convincingly emotional and, when need be, effortlessly charming, Stone shows she's the real deal. And she needs to be when often sharing the screen with Howard, who, in her best role since her breakthrough in M. Night Shyamalan's The Village, comes out firing on all cylinders as the steely, trash-talking Hilly, a social white rights activist. The closest thing The Help has to a villain, Howard chills the blood with just flicks of her eyes, let alone her acerbic and coolly confident line readings. What with the way she dominates a room, the way she's the center of everything, and her you're-in-with-me-or-you're-out personality, she got me trying to picture a young Hillary Clinton. I don't know how the Academy, and other voting bodies, overlooked Howard, but hers, to me, is one of the performance you'll really remember.

--The two Best Supporting Actress nominees are Octavia Spencer, as Aibileen's cynical, wise-cracking friend Minny, and Jessica Chastain as Minny's eventual employer, a cloying, ditsy, white trash outsider who seems to take whatever life gives her but really just wants to fit in. Both actresses give effective performances; in fact, Chastain is so good I wished she had more screen time; she doesn't really appear until about an hour into the film, and her scenes are short and spaced out, but her infectious optimism works magic in what is often a nervewracking, emotional film.

--Even the Supporting Actresses' supporting actors warrant mention, as Allison Janney, Sissy Spacek, Tyson and Mike Vogel each make memorable impressions, Vogel in just one short scene.

--With a pack of such attractive women, this movie can't help but be beautifully-shot, and it is, with lots of sunny days, lavishly-decorated '60s room sets and costumes, and a few meaningful scenic locales. The writing is wonderfully-effective, giving Davis her soft-spoken wisdom, Stone her snappy defensiveness, Howard her tinkling and/or raging bravado, Spencer her "mmm hmm" earthiness, and Chastain her sun-shining tidbits; very little in this movie feels forced, and you feel the punch of the most important scenes, be it Minny's acceptance by Chastain's classically-white-collar husband (Vogel), a central prank pulled on Howard's Hilly by Minny, or the scene where Skeeter, alone and unexpected, emerges into a roomful of mistreated, weary black women who have just had a friend harmed by their white neighbors.

--Okay, so I've gone on and on. As serious as a movie as it can be-and after a few early scenes of Hilly's blunt mistreatment of Aibileen and others, you start to fear for upcoming edgy content-it is also funny, has effective hints of romance and has enough subplots that you'd like to dive into even more. Like I said, it dragged a little at the end, but about an hour and 45 minutes effortlessly flew by. It vindicated its Academy Award nominations (other than the acting nods for Davis, Spencer and Chastain, it's also in the running for Best Picture), and it left me feeling bright and hopeful.

So, do I recommend it? I can't lie: the average husband/boyfriend coerced into watching this by one or more needy females may find his attention lagging (or thoroughly gone) by the largely female-dominated proceedings and period details, but I'd recommend this without hesitation for anyone who likes a good story, good acting, or is open to good things in films (oh, and to just about all women). I knew almost nothing about The Help-other than the fact that it got nominated for four Oscars (still can't believe Howard was overlooked) before I turned it on, and it made me a believer. And, as I've mentioned, some of the racial content can be iffy for children--not that I think the talky proceedings here would interest most children--but there's not a hint of sex or nudity and very little swearing (except for a memorable anecdote in one of the crucial scenes).

Bottom Line (I promise): A great cast and good writing, in an effective story, proves a terrific combination in a thought-provoking and likable film.

The Help (2011)
Directed by Tate Taylor
Based on the novel by Kathryn Stockett
Written by Tate Taylor
Rated PG-13
Length: 146 minutes